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| On the day after Thanksgiving, I woke to this:
And this:
(note: the child is darling and happy. I'm certainly not complaining about that. He just looks so energetic and ready to get into trouble - look at that, he already has! And, well, I felt about 5% of the energy he was radiating.)
Let me tell you. I wanted to leave it all, go back to bed, and sleep the rest of the day. "How will I ever get all those dishes done?", I thought. "It will probably take me 3 hours!", I thought. I'm a procrastinator, so I think like that. Then, inspiration hit. Here's what I did...
First, I set the enthusiastic small one down for breakfast.
Then, I set the timer for 15 minutes.
For these 15 minutes, I decided to work as fast as I could on taming those dishes. After that time was up, I'd take a picture and post it here for all to see! How's that for motivation? And off I went...
Whew! Time is up! How does it look now? 
That's better, but sure not done.
The small one is finished with breakfast, so we take a break for some play time.
 
Back to work now, for another 15 minutes.
Getting close! However, the scent of the small one is now suspiciously strong. I take a break, change a diaper, get him dressed. I'll spare you the photo.
Next we have some "quilt time",
After which the boy is hungry,
Then sleepy.
Resisting the urge to return to my bed for a nap as well, I return instead to my kitchen. I think I'm almost done! I set my 15 minute timer again, but before I start the countdown, I prepare my reward!
That's right, Godiva Chocolate Creme Coffee. Cause a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down and all of that.
And, 15 minutes later:
Done! Well, mostly done. I'll let those things dry while I enjoy my coffee.
In the meantime, how has the rest of my house fared?
Ah well... I'll deal with that tomorrow!
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| I just finished reading through my trial issue of "a fresh new magazine just for moms like you!"
It's one of those with an ad on every other page and even more in the back.
On page 44, under "Rustic Dressing", I found a sweater for $445, and boots for $395.
Page 48 had child models wearing $99 jeans, $25 rings, and $85 sunglasses.
A photo of the featured celeb mom shows her only from chest up, yet the clothing and accessories shown total $2519.
I could go on, but do I need to? I think my favorite of all is the babysitter shown on page 104 wearing a $663 dress.
Here's an example of what Moms Like Me spend on clothing:
 On child model: Shirt- Free, Jeans- Free, Hairstyling- Free (Daddy did it!)
Now, I've never claimed to have a great fashion sense, and I am quite a penny-pincher. People can spend a good deal more than me on clothing and fashion and I will not view them as frivolous. But $668 on your tween's shirt-and-leggings combo? How do you justify that?
The stories and articles were decent enough, and I found one recipe I might try. Overall, though?
Sorry, COOKIE, the moms you're targeting are not just like me.
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| "I thought we might get together for your birthday and go visit the farms", said Aunt Marilee. So we did.
C'mon, it'll be fun!
First, we check out all the nice, fresh produce for sale. Somebody didn't eat a very good breakfast, and Aunt Marilee said she'd treat us to ice cream, so we snacked on a nectarine and a banana.
This afforded an opportunity to look around at all the attractions the farm had to offer. Incidentally, it also afforded the opportunity for me to unintentionally stand on the pumpkin scale while taking many photos of my son cause, well, that was the best angle. I obliviously snapped away til a woman walked by and said, "I don't know that I'd just be standing there on the pumpkin scale..." I said, "Ha, ha, yeah... oh. Right". And got off. Heh, heh. At least I'm not sensitive about my weight.  Then...
What's that? 54 lbs, you say? More than twice my weight, you say? See if that stops me!
Cookies'n'cream in a cone! Thanks, Aunt Marilee!
 Wait a minute... something's wrong here...
Hey, look!
More fun stuff over here!
Here's a tractor!
Can I drive it?
Yes! It's a special tractor just for kids like me!
But look over there! Even more fun things to see!
Like this delightful bucket of water!
And a merry-go-round!
And another machine to ride on!
What do you mean, this one's not a toy?
Hey look, Mom! I'm a pumpkin!
Now I'm an apple!
What fun! Thanks, Aunt Marilee and Sarah, for visiting the farm with us! Next time, we'll take Daddy along!
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| We've been having so many great adventures this summer! August was "Date month", without even being planned that way, and September brought more opportunities to make fun family memories.
Last week, we headed to the pool one evening when rain canceled the hiking trip we had planned for the day. Logan hadn't been there since he was 6 weeks old and we were so excited to let him experience it all.
We started out in the wave pool, and he pretty much freaked out.
We took him to a stiller, shallower pool and tried to get him to stand in it, but he wouldn't put his feet down.
Morgan took him down the water slide.
Nope, nope, nope, he would have none of it.
He just clung to us, shaking and making noises anywhere from a whimper to a scream. So we spent the rest of the time in the kiddie pool, where he finally got brave enough to walk around a bit and even let go of our hands. I didn't get any pictures there since I was playing in the water too.
Morgan and I have talked before about wishing there was some machine that we could plug Logan's brain into at the end of the day that would transcribe for us a little journal of his thoughts and impressions of the things he experiences throughout the day. Most recently, we're guessing that he wonders why we're so bent on torturing and terrifying him and what form it will take next.
On Sunday, we went mini-golfing with the Aussies and Kiwis group here in town.
 
He was evidently not impressed and threw the screaming fit of his life for the first 16 holes.
Later, as we ate a pizza place with the group, I saw the old fashioned carousel they had.
I thought, "Hey, wouldn't Logan love to ride that!"
  
No, evidently he wouldn't.
So, what will we come up with next...? | | |
| While we hung out in the girls' cabin before Sarah's wedding, my aunt Angela talked to us about a 24-hour scrapbooking event she has attended in the past there at the camp. They set up tables end to end throughout the gym and other rooms, some covered with scrapbooking supplies and others with snacks. The women have the option to sleep during the night in the cabins, but many just take advantage of the uninterrupted, kid-free time and have a scrapbooking blitz. Sometimes Aunt Angela goes with friends and sometimes she goes alone - which is much more productive. It kind of sounds like fun.
I'm not the scrapbooking type though - not at all. This here, my blog, with what I hope to be clever little comments inserted between darling photographs - no frills, no cute stickers, or fancy-edge-cutting scissors - this is as close as I get to a scrapbook.
We already save all our pictures on our computer and both Morgan and I put the each month's pictures up on facebook, but here I can put in a little more creativity, a few more thoughts, preserve a little more of the memory. Then, when Logan asks, "When did you cut my hair the first time?" or "Did I ever go to the coast when I was a baby?" or "Was I always this smart and strong and handsome?", I'll "turn" to that "page" in my "scrapbook" and let the old pictures and words tell him the stories.
With that, here's our Independence Day 2009!
Arriving early at our church camp, Morgan and Logan visit with our family and friends.
 Here is Logan with cousin Roman and Nana.
Meanwhile, I ate a quick bbq lunch and then joined the other musicians in the traditional "4th of July Stationary Marching Band". We played patriotic music while everyone else ate their bbq.
 Steve is our faithful, fearless leader.
 Here's me with the tuba (I'm the one without the beard). Abigail is behind me, evidently confused about something.
 Dad almost didn't come to play trombone this year. He said he'd leave it to the younger guys. When we had 0 trombones at the rehearsal though, he gave in and played with us. He's such a good sport and it's really fun to play in a band with your dad!
 Here's the whole group. As our concert when on, the sun slowly moved across the band - those still in the shade wondering why those to their right were getting all squirmy and out of tune. Boy, it sure makes a difference when the sun shines down right on you! Anyway, as you can see, part of the band enjoyed shade all the way through!
After the concert, we took Logan over to the kiddie pool. I hadn't grabbed my swimsuit before we left, so I just spectated and photographed my guys enjoying the water.
 
Logan took a bit to warm up to the idea. Morgan tried to encourage him to be a little more adventurous.
 
Then they moved to the big pool and Logan started really getting into it.
 
Yep, he was having a real good time by the end!
I think he just loves to do whatever Dad's doing. It makes him feel so special and grown up.
After leaving the camp, we enjoyed naps (yay!). Then Nana and Mitchell came by and we played some Wii tennis. Later, my parents and Daniel came over and we played more Wii and ate sandwiches and chips while playing Settlers of Catan.
When our guests left and it got dark, we walked down to our nearby park to enjoy big fireworks from several nearby shows. Logan was pretty petrified by the private fireworks from the neighbors nearby, while those from the big shows were apparently not even interesting enough to distract him from playing with a cell phone. 
Independence Day has been my favorite holiday since high school - maybe even middle school. I used to think it was because of the specific traditions we held: morning road race, picnic and band at the church camp, rodeo with friends in the evening. Since getting married, and especially since Logan was born, we've stopped participating in some of those traditions. But you know what? The July 4ths of these recent years have been still so fun, so full - highlights of my month and my summer!
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